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She turns toward the main gallery, and I fall into step beside her. She is letting me closer, but only in carefully measured increments. I can live with that.

What I can’t ignore is the way every conversation about anything beyond London changes her. There is something in California she does not want me near. I have no idea what it is yet.

Chapter Twenty-Nine

Blaire

London is already dark beyond the windows of my hotel suite when I finally close the last client file on my laptop and lean back in the chair.

The archive work is beginning to feel manageable again. Not finished, but contained enough that I can see the end of it. I send one final response to Charlotte’s office, close another client thread, and reach for my phone when the screen lights beside me.

Ross sent the message more than an hour ago.

Ross: Have you decided about this weekend?

I’ve read it three times without answering.

Before I decide whether I’m going to ignore it for another hour, Chloe’s name appears across the screen with a FaceTime request.

I answer.

Her face fills the screen almost immediately, hair pulled back, expression tired but familiar enough that some of the tension leaves my shoulders.

“Please tell me you’re somewhere quiet,” Chloe says.

“I’m in my hotel,” I reply.

“What happened?”

“Nothing catastrophic,” Chloe says.

“One of the kids decided tonight was the perfect time to remember a project that’s due tomorrow, and the other one is furious because someone moved something that apparently had enormous emotional significance.”

I laugh. “That sounds about right.”

Chloe rolls her eyes.

“I’m surviving. More importantly, how are you?”

“I’m fine,” I say.

She looks directly into the camera, and I already know what that look means.

“Blaire,” Chloe says.

“What?” I ask.

“You haven’t called me properly in days,” she says.

“I’ve been working.”

“I know you’ve been working,” Chloe replies.

“I also know you, which is why I’m asking again. How are things going?”

I lean back in the chair.

“The project is fine. The extension is still annoying, but we’re making progress.”